I'm fine with an offline map (Destiny)

by ShadowOfTheVoid , South Carolina, Monday, July 28, 2014, 11:58 (3569 days ago) @ kapowaz

Things being optional can be problematic if they're foisting what ought to be a design decision onto the end user to make for themselves (see: Linux on the desktop) rather than being opinionated about what's the right way to do something. But I don't think that applies here.

Different people have differing levels of spatial awareness and ability to navigate in a virtual 3D space. Every time I try to get my fiancée to play any 3D-based video game she gets lost; she just can't get her head around it, and I'm sure she's not the only one. Myself however, I'm usually pretty able to memorise places from a single visit and (assuming they're not identikit, copy and pasted terrain) navigate with ease.

What I'm talking about here is a player aid that players who have no interest in using it aren't penalised for not using; if you're happy using nav markers you're fine, but if you need something else (or are just curious to see a spatial overview of the world) then you have that option.

I still get lost in ODST if I don't regularly consult the map and set waypoints. Sometimes I'll get sidetracked by enemies and end up way off from where I wanted and have to turn around. The facts that you're always at street level and can't see but a small part of the level and that the level is symmetrical and modular and thus a lot of it looks the same don't help. I had this problem in some parts of the Cosmodrome as well as the underground part of the Moon. I think I spent half an hour wandering around in circles in the Rocket Yard area, and my roommate was stuck there even longer. It took me about an hour to find my way out from that snarling maze that is Hellmouth. When I get tired of just wandering and want to get some place specific, I really need a map. I have a very poor sense of direction, and with no easily-visible landmarks to view at a distance I get lost easily. It's not so bad on an open surface area where I can see a long ways away, but when you're in a series of small, interlinking, mostly enclosed areas I can get turned around easily.